Thanks BT,
 
  You found a great article that explains my feelings about how I have perceived it.  I was concerned that my accompanying captions would make me seem heartless.
  Slate has a great presentation on the history of Japan and their perception of these disasters from centuries ago, to now and to the future.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/14/land_of_disaster http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/14/land_of_disaster
 
After 1985, he became the personification of the effects of man’s hubris with nuclear energy. Those photos are from his ‘last’ film as he actually did have a core meltdown.  He could not be controlled or stopped. The scenes of destruction coupled with fallout is strangely being played out before my eyes.
 
mark

Almost as painful as watching video of the quake has been some of the reportage such as watching what were obviously liquified natural gas storage tanks (burning) repeatedly referred to as an “oil refinery” and listening to an earthquake expert try to explain to a goofy talking head the difference between a subduction fault (such as in Japan or the Cascadia) and a strike-slip fault (such as the San Andreas).
 
Still, I wonder if there isn’t a tiny bit of silver lining in this for the Japanese.  For almost 2 decades now, their economy has been in the doldrums and flirting with deflation. Mostly this is demographic–their population is both aging and declining in numbers due to a low birth rate (which they share with other developed economies) but also a low immigration rate (which is a problem almost uniquely theirs in the first world).  The huge economic stimulus that will result from the rebuilding efforts in Northeastern Honshu may finally put their economy into a growth spurt, at least temporarily.
 
I have to add that in watching the video that has been repeatedly shown of the CNN bureau in Tokyo where it starts off slow and gets more and more violent and stuff begins falling off every shelf etc, I had something of a flashback to 1989.  That’s how it was:  At first you thought maybe it’s a really big truck going by, then you thought, “No, it’s a quake (but that’s not too unusual in either NorCal or Japan)” then you begin to think, “Uh oh, maybe this is it–the BIG ONE (we’ve all known would come someday)”.  In our case, it turned out to be a “sort of big one” but not THE BIG ONE (1906 over again).  In Japan, well, I guess maybe it was.

Our nearby harbor and boats in Crescent City have already been wiped out. 

BT – I’ve said that if they can count the deaths in the tens of thousands it will be a miracle.

the damage is worse than I even imagined. 

 
You know, when the talking heads were saying there could be as many as 1000 killed,  I just said to myself “they don’t know what they are talking about”.  It was obvious from the pictures being transmitted even as the tsunami occurred that there would be many thousands dead.  Most of those houses and buildings and many of the cars and trucks being swept away probably had people in them.  They will be finding the dead for months, in spite of the fact that many of them are buried so deeply in debris that they will never be found.  And this is assuming they get the nuclear plants under control.
 
No, it isn’t yet at all beyond what I imagined.  And I’m usually an optimist.

Here are before-after tsunami views from the http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?hp NYTimes.  You can move the slider back & forth to see how the areas were affected.  Absolutely devastating, the damage is worse than I even imagined.

 
 
  I suspect that this reply may have been expected from me, but I cannot overlook the amount of times that Japan has been cinematically destroyed.  I was up that night watching the tsunami as it occurred. The feeling that I have seen it before was overwhelming Toho has sunk the whole nation in one film. As I still re-watch the news clips it seems so unreal.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070447 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070447/
 
  But of course, Japan’s biggest allegory has dined at many of the finer nuclear facilities. Here he approaches the power plant in Ikata.

 
Kind of hungry here. What’s in the steamer? Atomic Roadfood.

 
He ate too much and there is no anti-acid for this condition. In this film, he actually melted down, disintegrating into a radioactive mist and the authorities had no way to contain and prevent it.

 
I know this may have seemed light hearted, but Japan has the psyche to accept, cooperate and grow from this.  Nuclear contamination could be a deal breaker. This is a nation the size of California; they have nowhere to go.
 
mark

 

I suspect that this reply may have been expected from me, but I cannot overlook the amount of times that Japan has been cinematically destroyed.  I was up that night watching the tsunami as it occurred. The feeling that I have seen it before was overwhelming Toho has sunk the whole nation in one film. 

 
Evidently, you weren’t alone:  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/japans-long-nuclear-disaster-film/?hp http://opinionator.blogs….lear-disaster-film/?hp

Hello All,
Let all our prayers, love, and healing thoughts
go out to our fellow brethrens or humans that
dwell in Japan.  My God, what they are going
through.  Let us plead for the best  to happen
and a response from our God, gods, governments, and ourselves for all creatures living in Japan.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

CNN is reporting “a meltdown may be underway” at the Daiichi reactor.  The Japanese Ambassador was asked about it and gave a rather evasive answer, talking about that they are trying to control the core by injecting seawater–which one alleged expert says sounds like a desperation move (a “Hail Mary approach”).
 
Getting accurate information about this situation seems extraordinarily difficult.  But it brings up a question:
 
If what we have is the “China Syndrome”, this is happening pretty near China . . . and WE are sort of on the other side.  Is this an “America Syndrome”?

just unreal images. my daughter is in Hawaii going to college. when she called around midnight we had no clue it even happened. she said they were under sunami warning. we still didn’t think much about it until she called again and said they were being evacuated. then we turned on the tv and saw the images. couldn’t believe what we were seeing. didn’t sleep at all until she called and said she was at higher ground. she lives 2 blocks from waikiki beach. nothing really hit there.

Thank Heaven it seems that most of the Hawaiians (and tourists) took the middle of the night warnings seriouusly…Even if the waves were lower than feared they did some damage, and also validated the evacuation procedures those folks had in place. With adequate time life, if not property, can be preserved.
 
I touch base on CNN only briefly now and then..The stateside anchors tend to be what appears to be geology drop-outs using terms they are strickly reading. Weather channel did a nice job at the geographic comparisons of Japanese cities to the East coast cities in the USA. That helped when you heard a new reporter mix the Japanese cities as all being “near the Epicenter…or all being 2 hundred miles away.  My former base on Hokkaido is one that is handling trans-pacific commercial diverted flights for the time being. I did hear that Narita the largest of Tokyo’s two airports is doing out-bound flights at this tie (Saturday).  Janet’s daughter and family are on Okinawa, some 700 miles south of Tokyo. They got a shaking (not as bad as Northridge she said.).. and Torii Station on the beach of the island got a bit wet in the waves, but not a big deal like it was north of there. She was in L A for the Northridge so the distance factor  is included here.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjx-JlwYtyE&feature=player_embedded#at=18[/tube]

I think it was a sort of Chicken Little thing. The last time they issued Warnings,(last year?) the whole thing proved to be a dud, so 
people just didn’t believe. They will now, although too late.